Friday, May 01, 2009

UIS students honored at Model United Nations conference

A class of students from the University of Illinois at Springfield who attended the annual National Model United Nations conference was honored with the Distinguished Delegation Award for their efforts at the conference, which was held April 7 to 11 in New York City.

The conference is a simulation of a United Nations meeting. Groups of students from more than 300 schools internationally attended the conference, and each delegation, or group, represented a specific country. UIS was chosen to represent Croatia.

This was the first year that a semester course was created to learn about and attend Model United Nations; in previous years, the university has sent a group from a Model United Nations Club on campus.

Several UIS students also received individual awards at the conference. Priyanka Deo was honored with the Best Chair Award for her role in serving as chairman of the General Assembly. Kelsey Quinn received the Best Delegate Award from among more than 400 delegates. Both Deo and Quinn have been invited to attend a conference in Switzerland this summer based on their work at Model United Nations.

This semester, the class, called Model United Nations and comprised of 12 students, has been studying topics like how the United Nations is organized, foreign policy and diplomacy, and all aspects of Croatia.

“Having a course, we were able to discuss Croatia, its history, its culture and its relations with other neighboring countries,” noted Dr. Adriana Crocker, professor of political science who taught the class. “It was quite an accomplishment to receive several awards, especially because our group was much smaller than most others who attended. It was a great experience for our students.”